Page 402 - the-idiot

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ou will not deny, I am sure,’ said Gavrila Ardaliono-
‘Yvitch, turning to Burdovsky, who sat looking at him
with wide-open eyes, perplexed and astonished. You will
not deny, seriously, that you were born just two years af-
ter your mother’s legal marriage to Mr. Burdovsky, your
father. Nothing would be easier than to prove the date of
your birth from well-known facts; we can only look on Mr.
Keller’s version as a work of imagination, and one, more-
over, extremely offensive both to you and your mother. Of
course he distorted the truth in order to strengthen your
claim, and to serve your interests. Mr. Keller said that he
previously consulted you about his article in the paper, but
did not read it to you as a whole. Certainly he could not
have read that passage. .…
‘As a matter of fact, I did not read it,’ interrupted the box-
er, ‘but its contents had been given me on unimpeachable
authority, and I …’
‘Excuse me, Mr. Keller,’ interposed Gavrila Ardaliono-
vitch. ‘Allow me to speak. I assure you your article shall be
mentioned in its proper place, and you can then explain
everything, but for the moment I would rather not antici-
pate. Quite accidentally, with the help of my sister, Varvara
Ardalionovna Ptitsin, I obtained from one of her intimate
friends, Madame Zoubkoff, a letter written to her twen-

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